Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - Was it the right call to not move Jason Zucker?

Episode Date: September 7, 2022

Yes, Hunter is on vacation but the content NEVER sleeps. He starts the episode off by touching on the Penguins training camp roster and if there were any surprises that came from it. He also gets into a quick rumor on Evan Rodrigues from Elliotte Friedman before moving to some Jason Zucker talk. He touches on Dave Molinari's report and how the Penguins almost pulled the trigger on a deal for Zucker but decided against it. What did the agreement look like? Was it wise for the Penguins to keep him? Is he in line for a big year? He also touches on how it would hurt the depth if he left since the next winger on the depth chart would be...Danton Heinen. Finally, he goes over the Penguins' national TV schedule for this upcoming season and why it's great for the league that they'll be televised more.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!Built BarBuilt Bar is a protein bar that tastes like a candy bar. Go to builtbar.com and use promo code “LOCKEDON15,” and you’ll get 15% off your next order.BetOnlineBetOnline.net has you covered this season with more props, odds, and lines than ever before. BetOnline – Where The Game Starts! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hello, happy Wednesday, September 7th. Yes, I'm sure some of you are probably like, well, what are you doing recording here? You're on vacation. Well, you know, there actually has been some penguins that has dropped at least, you know, in the last 24 hours that is worth discussing. Dave Molynearri had a report about Jason Zucker on Pittsburgh hockey now that we're going to get into. The Penguins Training Camp roster has been dropped. And also the Penguins' nationally televised schedule has been released for next season. And so a few good topics to get into for today's episode.

Frank will him with a couple of other things. That's all coming up right after this drop. Your Locked-on Penguins. Your daily podcast on the Pittsburgh Penguins. Part of the Locked-on Podcast Network. Your team every day. Hello, welcome back to another episode of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. I'm your host, Honour Hodes.

And you're going to follow me on Twitter at, Hunter Hodes can also follow the shows, Twitter, at L.O. Orsore Penguins, excuse me, and thank you all so much for making this your first listen of the day. So going this at about 6 o'clock on Wednesday evening, TBD, if I'm going to post this evening or tomorrow. If it is posted on Thursday, I'll just have another episode posted on Friday. I won't record another episode on Thursday. If I post tonight on Wednesday, the next episode will be Friday, I'll just, so either way, I'm probably just going to take Thursday off and not record and then just record on Friday.

It just all depends on which day I want to post this just because I'm on vacation. But it's still good that I can give you all some Penguins content. I shouldn't say busy, but there has been some stuff that's come out. And, you know, the first thing was actually the Penguins, they announced training camp and rookie camp rosters. They've invited 57 players to their 2020, 22, 23 training camp. 30 forwards, 21 defensemen, six-gold tenders. No, I am not going to go over that entire list.

that would just take way too long. Just for the most part, you know, all 23 players who skated in at least one game for the Penguins last season. A lot of players who are down the liners, of course, all the newcomers, Jeff Petrie, Ryan Payling, Ty Smith, Jan, Ruta. So all those players, again, of course, a lot of players down Wilkesbury. The Penguins will also have rookie training camp. That starts next Thursday, September 15th. That's made up of 13 forwards, nine defensemen, and three goaltenders.

Jordan Froska is going to be there, Ty Glover, Jack St. Ivy, Taylor Gauthier, and Owen Pickering, Nolan Collins. And then 23 of the 25 rookie camp players who are going to be there are also going to remain in Pittsburgh to take part in Penguins training camp. Remember, the Penguins opened up the regular season on October 13th against the Arizona coyotes. Training camp, though, that starts, if I'm going to get this right here. Detroit Camp officially opens Thursday, September 22nd. So officially two weeks now until camp opens up. You know, we're into the home stretch of the off season here, folks. It's getting serious.

Now, if I did live in Pittsburgh at this point, I'd probably be going up there to a few practices. I don't know if I talked about this on my last episode, but I've been hinting out on my Twitter page that I'm not going to be renewing my lease down in Richmond later this year. And, you know, one of the places that I've been looking at is Pittsburgh. I would like to, you know, know, settle down there and potentially see if the show can get credentialed and go to a lot more games,

you know, probably meet up some of you guys. It's something that I'm really excited about and something that, you know, I'm really hoping to find a place here in the next few months. That also helps that. Hopefully we won't have to pay for ESPN Plus, which, of course, is going up in money. So, again, training camp starts Thursday, September 22nd. All of the practices should be open to the public. You know, you don't really have to pay that much to get in anyway.

you are going to be there, you know, let me know, you know, tell me what day you're going, tell me who practiced as well, tell me who doesn't practice well, all that good stuff. I know, you know, it's different in camp and the preseason period of the regular season. Remember last year, because great captain was blowing all of our doors off in camp and preseason, you know, looking like the second coming of Jesus. And then he just basically falls flat on his face during the regular season. Somehow still gets a decent contract from the Penguins, but still, you know, camp, you know, that stuff can be fair.

There's always training camp heroes every single year. You know, we just have to, you know, I mean, we, I just have to, you know, pump the breaks on some stuff that at least I see from practices and, you know, reports and all that. Because, of course, I'm not going to be there for that many practices, at least not yet. Hopefully next year, if I am living Pittsburgh, I'll be able to go to almost all of them. But just wanted to just pump the breaks if people, you know, if fans that aren't going, start seeing reports like saying, hey, you know, this guy's been really flashy at camp and preseasoning, A, K, you know, just pump the brakes a little bit because, you know, we also would happen with capping and all that stuff last year. So that wraps up, that part of the announcement.

Just because I'm going to feel old here, Penguins, Crosby, Malk, and Latang, they will return for their 17th season as teammates the most among any trio in NHL history. That's just, it boggles my mind. That's their 17th season where I'm going to be 25 here in basically two months. and the fact that they basically started playing when I was, excuse me, eight or nine years old is just absolutely ridiculous. I just,

I feel so young. I feel so young. I feel so old, but I also just feel so blessed to have, you know, watch them for 16 years. And, you know, this will be your 17 together.

You know, it's just, it's unbelievable, to be honest with you. Um, wrapping up this segment, I did want to touch on. Elliot Freeman, he had his new 32 Thoughts podcast episode with Jeff Merrick,

and he did release an update on Rodriguez, did not include the Penguins. So, you know, maybe Rodriguez's Asian, Darren Ferris was kind of maybe pumping penguins tires up a bit much. But Friedman did say that he's heard the ducks have a lot of interest in him. They could do something similar to what they did with John Kleingberg, where they gave him a one-year deal and a decent salary, and then they could slip in at the deadline just because the ducks aren't really expected to be a good team this year.

He also said a couple Canadian teams are in. on Rodriguez, he says he also expects something to potentially happen this week when it comes to Rodriguez. So anytime now on Wednesday for the rest of the day, maybe it'll be during my dinner tonight or I'm just trying to win in Blackjack or something or maybe Thursday, Friday, something like that. You know, with camp only two weeks away from most teams, I have to expect he wants to get something done ASAP. But it sounds like there's a lot of interest around there with Rodriguez. I think he just wants to, you know, pick the best, you know, team for,

his future, his family, friends, all that stuff. So we'll have to see, you know, maybe he does come back to the Penguins, but, you know, after I listened to what Friedman was saying on Tuesday, you know, doesn't really seem too likely right now. I know the Penguins obviously would have to clear cap for that to happen. So maybe they haven't been able to. And speaking of that, that's going to be the main topic coming up in the second segment of this episode.

we're going to get into Dave Monari's report regarding Jason Zucker and how the penguins they could have traded him over the offseason, but they decided not to. So, yeah, that wraps up this first segment, Forte this episode of Training Camp, and then a small little update on Evan Rodriguez. But before we get to the wonderful second segment, I'm going to move my second left, right on a beautiful double little setup here. If you haven't tried the Bill Parpops yet, you are depriving yourself of one of life, greatest joys. And guess what? There's a new flavor. They're delicious, indulgent cookie dough

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build.com. He's promo code Lock 15 and get 15% off your order. Again, that's promo code lock 15% off off your order at Built.com. All right, I'm back in this episode of the Locktown Penguins podcast. I am your host. Honour Hodeys. You're going to follow me on Twitter. Hunter Hote. You can also have all the shows, Twitter, L.O. and of course thank you all so much for making this your first listen of the day. So let's get into Dave's story that he wrote, you know, right around, I think it was like 11, 12 o'clock today. And he wrote that Hextall got a trade proposal received from a non-specified team, believed to be from another metropolitan team, called for Zucker to be packaged with a first-round draft choice in exchange for nothing.

Basically future considerations. And honestly, I am totally fine that the Penguins not making that deal. If you are going to move Zucker, I would at least want something in return. I'm not going to want future considerations for a player who, when healthy, is good, can score, good defensively. It plays his ass off basically every shift. And I'm especially not going to be dumping him along with a first round pick to a rival team. I don't know what team it is. Maybe it's the Capitals.

Maybe it's the Flyers. Maybe it's the Hurricanes. I don't know. I don't think it would be the Capitals or Flyers. Probably more likely it's the Hurricanes or the Islanders or something like that. But the fact that they didn't do it, I'm fine with that. You know, Zucker, if you move him for nothing, who is going to play on that second line way? I mean, sure, Dan Hinen did it for parts of last year.

And yeah, he played well, 18 goals, had a career high, looked good next to Malkin. But are you going to expect him to score 18 goals again this season for the Penguins? Probably not. I think you're looking at 12 to 15. I don't think he hits 20 again just because, you know, I mean, I know a good lot, a good chunk of them came at 5E5, but, you know, it's just, I just don't see it, especially for someone that's a depth player, basically. So, you know, I just, I couldn't get behind him, especially again, if you're dealing

a first round pick, something that Hextall has really valued ever since he took over this team when Jim Rutherford resigned, you know, he easily could have moved that first round pick and this pastures happen. Heck, you know, I think a lot of penguins and, you know, you know, analysts and writers and, you know, podcasters out there, you know, they were calling for the penguins to trade that. And, you know, and I understood that thinking. It's not going to be, you know, whoever they were going to pick, you know, especially even Owen Pickering, you know, he's not going to be on this team probably for the next four to five years. So, you know, that was their thinking with trading. You can get someone that helps now, especially in the city and Genoa Eric, because when Pickering is ready to go, I would, I would like to think that all three of Crossey, Malk, and Latang are going to be retired. So I don't really. like, you know, I get the reasoning, but, you know, I also get where Ron Hextall's coming from where he wants to, you know, restock the cover and get some prospects back into the system, and think about the future and all this stuff. And I think, you know, he was thinking about the

present, excuse me, and the future, and not doing this, you know. Maybe if you wanted to send Zucker West, I would have been maybe a little more open to it. But the fact remains, if you're, If it's from a metropolitan team, that's just stupid. That's just not worth it. Yeah, you know, this comes directly after we have the Sean Monaghan trade just about what? A couple weeks ago when he, you know, he was traded to Montreal. And, you know, the flames, they had to attach a first round pick to get the Canadians to take him. You know, if that's what it's going to take to get Sean Monaghan, a player who is not as good right now,

Jason's off great. he used to be better than him, but it's not anymore. Then, of course, it's going to cost the payments at least your first-crown pick. Yeah, would it help them salary realize? Yes, it would clear them $5.5 million. It would allow them to maybe go after another free agent that, you know, is a bit more consistent, can stay healthy more often. But it's just it's not worth it to dump him and include a first-run picking it,

and then you're not getting anything back in return. You know, it's not Ron Hextall's fault or even Jim Brotherhood's fault when he got him that soccer was going to be this banged up when he was acquired. I mean, this is a player that was healthy for most of his career prior to joining a penguin. So, you know, it's just, it really is, it's just, it's the penguin's lock that, of course, he gets banged up all the time, you know, every time he does, you know, every time he basically steps on to the ice.

You know, I'm glad they kept him. I think, you know, I know Danny Shireb Dick and Pittsburgh Sports is, you know, pumping up his tires again. I know Jeff from the Penn's blog is doing the same thing. I'm almost there with them. You know, this is a player that I really liked ever since he was acquired. I thought he was going to score 20 to 25 last year. Obviously, I know I was wrong. I'll take the L on that.

I'll put that on my forehead. But, you know, I may go again here. You know, if he stays healthy this year, why can't he score 20 to 25? But why? He's done it before in Minnesota. Why can't he do it here with a rejuvenated of games? Benny Malkin and another really good winger in where Carverichel, the Penguins are going to get hopefully 82 games out of him.

Hopefully the team will be able to stay more healthy this year. They just gutted like I think a lot of their conditioning staff over the offseason. Well, I wouldn't say a lot of it, but they made some changes to it. So hopefully they can understand why this team is so healthy. Why this team is so healthy? I just cannot speak right now. Why this team is so banged up year after year after year. So that's basically the Jason Zucker part of this episode.

Remember, you know, the Monaghan stuff, he had 6.3 million left on his contract. And Zucker 5.5. And the flyers were trying to do the same thing with James Van Ries. I think that's why they were not in on Johnny Goodrow because they couldn't get a team to take Van Rieves Day's contract. Well, it's either that or they didn't want to attach a first round pick to get rid of him. But the difference for that would be for me, like when you have a chance to go get Johnny freaking Goodrow, who is in your backyard. He is from the Philadelphia slash Cherry Hill, New Jersey area.

Cherry Hill is like 20 minutes outside the city. Like, why wouldn't you just attach your first-round pick and be done with it to try to go sign a player who can really help you now and in the future? You know, for the Penguins, you know, they wouldn't have, you know, that kind of luxury. They're not going to go after a Johnny Goodro. Surely would they be able to sign someone to replace a sucker? Yeah, but, you know, it's just, it's not worth it to attach a first-rounder, especially when a GM has been very public about saying, hey, I want to keep our first rounders. I don't want to keep dealing them.

I think it honestly took a lot for Hextal to deal their second round pick this past year in the Ricard Recall trade. I mean, he probably didn't want to do it. But, you know, that's the market for this kind of stuff. And also, as Dave writes, they're not prepared to write Zucker off as a significant contributor. You know, this is a player. I thought he had a good playoffs for the Penguins. obviously he was playing hurt.

I was told he was playing with a torn groin by someone close to him. I know a couple of other people heard that as well. But, you know, hopefully he's fully recovered from that. And he comes out there and kicks butt for the Penguins this year. Now, the last part in Monnery's article, that was really interesting. He said, although the 57 main training camp roster, the Penguins released on Tuesday, did not include anyone on a PTO.

Brian Boyle was at least a long shot candidate to receive one until the last few days. He said, Boyle was representatives, approach the Penguins, England's about having him return for this year's training camp, and the idea got serious consideration before the front office decided against it. My thoughts on that, I totally understand why they did not want to give Boyle another contract. You know, he proved me wrong last year. I didn't think he was going to be, you know, anything more than just a 13th forward. He went out and scored double-digit goals and played over half the games, I think it was

like over 55 of the games last season, you know, played fine in the playoffs. You know, obviously his style play is not good against a team like the New York Rangers. You know, he's still a fine player. But the fact of the matter is, as Dave Wrights, they have 14 forwards on one-year contracts right now. You know, the time to, you know, go a bit younger is now. Drew O'Connor. I'm sorry, he's probably a better option right now than, boy,

redeems O'Hourna, Ryan Palin. You just got him in the trade with Jeff Petrie. Just signed Josh Archball to a one-year contract. I don't want him playing every night because I don't think he's any good. But, you know, they have him also. So, you know, Jake Cajulo, of course, that's a two-way contract. but still, you know, he's a player that I think could push for playing time this season. They have a lot of options for those 11th, especially that 12th forward spot that are better at this point in time than Boyle.

I think he also just had knee surgery over the off season. I'm not really sure how healthy he's going to be coming off that. I am totally fine with the Penguins not giving Boyle another contract. Kudos to him. Had a great year of the Penguins. Obviously, it was very well liked and respected in the locker room. Proved me wrong. He was a lot of people wrong.

but I think at this point, I think it's just too little, too late for them to bring him in. Now, that wraps up the second segment for today's episode. Coming up, the final segment, we're going to get into the national TV games that were announced today and how many games the Penguins will be playing on national TV nature. So that's all coming up right after this commercial break. All right, I'm back here in this episode of the Locktime Penguins podcast. I am your host, Hunter Hodes. I want to follow me on Twitter, Hunter Hodes.

You can also follow the shows, Twitter, L.A. or so we're going to follow the shows, Twitter, L.A. or Swel Penguins. And of course, thank you all so much for making this your first listen of the day. So let's get into this. So both TNT and ESPN, Turner Sports, I should say, they announced their national TV game scheduled to stay. Another sign that hockey is right around the corner, almost about a full month now until the season comes back. And trust me, I am amped. I am over the offseason. I cannot wait to get back to doing this five days a week during the season. I know it's a lot. It's hectic. it's what I live for. I love covering this team and I'll be doing the show for as long as I can.

But the Penguins, so they will have on national TV 15 games over the course of this next season. That is tied for the most in the NHL alongside the New York Rangers and the Minnesota Wild. AT&T Sportsnet, for those that are in Pittsburgh or for those that have ESPN Plus, I mean, I currently have it right now, but I'm probably not going to have it. If I do move to Pittsburgh at the end of this year, they're going to broadcast 69. nice number, Penguin Games this year. Yes, I had to throw that in. So here are the games that are going to be broadcasted across the networks are nationalized for the Penguins. Tuesday, so two games on ESPN, Tuesday, November 1st against the Boston Bruins. That's 8 p.m. start time. Thursday, March 23rd against the Dallas Stars down in Dallas. Now for ABC with some METNA

games. So they have six games on ABC, February 25th against the St. Louis Blues and St. Louis, March 11th. on that Saturday versus the Philadelphia Flyers. March 18th against the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden, March 25th against the Washington Capitals, at home, April 1st against the Boston Bruins at home, and then April 8th against the Detroit Red Wings at Little Sears Arena. And then for TNT, so they have seven games on TNT, that's tied for the most with the Rangers.

Wednesday, November 2nd against the Buffalo Sabres, November 9th against the Washington Capitals, November 25th, Black Friday against the Philadelphia Flyers. All three of those games are on the road. And then December 28th versus the Detroit Red Wings, winter classic on January 2nd up in Boston at Fenway Park, March 12th against New York Rangers up home, and then March 22nd against the Colorado AdWing.

So those are all 15 nationally televised games for the Penguins this year. So after a year where they were on as many, you know, there weren't as many national TV games, Penguins, they go up that list in a big way. And, you know, I'm looking forward to those. You know, I honestly, you know, for me, I like TNT's coverage more than ESPN's last year. I think ESPN was fine. I mean, Ray Ferraro is awesome.

Sean McDonough, he's not a natural, but, you know, he's been usually really good with football and, you know, college football over the years. I think that was his first year doing hockey. He's going to, I think, grow more and mold himself into it. I think he's going to be fine. Bob Wucheskin, I think he's really solid. You know, he had a really, you know, just a natural voice for the game. John Butchagross, never really been a fan of him. He's just a weird dude.

I know a lot of people like him. I'm just, no, not for me, to say it at least. Especially his whole chicken parm thing is just like, this is my reaction for those on YouTube. That's me when it comes to the chicken farm stuff. It's just like, okay, whatever. Leah Hextall, look, you know, I think, you know, objectively, this has nothing to do with her being a woman. I would say the same thing if she was a man, you know, just did not have a good feel for the

the game as a play-by-play. Commentator, I think she should have taken more reps, maybe down in the minor league or something like that before she was put on ESP. And I think she was honestly just set up to fail right from the start. Maybe she worked on some stuff over the off season, but, you know, definitely not looking forward to those games. I like her better as a color commentator than I do as a play-by-play analyst. I mean, she's just objectively not a good play-by-play commentator right now,

and I don't know if she ever will be. You know, if she proves me wrong, great. You know, I think this sport, again, you know, they need, it needs more women in it that know what they're doing and are good at it and all that stuff, especially getting in a very male-driven industry. You know, TNT, I thought, you know, their intermission panels were actually solid. You know, I think they took it right from inside the NBA. Red Tocke was always hilarious.

Anson Carter, you know, his analysis is okay. Wayne Gretzky, he has basically has the personality of a lump of bricks, but I could also say the same for Mark Messier and Chris Cellio is on the ESPN. and I think honestly, they are worse than Gretzky. At least you know Gretzky is able to talk. I mean, Messier and Chely, they just mumble the whole time, and it's just, like, not fun to listen to. Liam McHugh, obviously a great host.

I love listening to him. And I was just, you know, I've always been a fan of Kenny Albert. Darren Pang, I think he's fine, except I remember the game. It was the Blues Penguins game last year. It was just a constant, there's just a constant Homer Fest. Like, I get it, you know. You do games for the Blues at home. I don't think you need to shove that down,

our notes. So again, I'm probably more looking forward to the games on TNT than I am with ESPN slash ABC. Maybe ESPN or ABC, maybe they make some changes to the broadcasting teams this year, something like that, who knows. But that was the big announcement today. ESP, they're going to kick their coverage off on opening night. They will have a double header. I'm going to get that for you all right now.

Tampa Bay, New York on October 11th at 730. Vegas, Los Angeles on the 11th, and then Turner Sports, if I can get that up here. Let me make sure they made that announcement. On Wednesday, October 12th, Rubin's Capitals as a deviltheter, and then the avalanche will raise their Stanley Cup banner against a Chicago Blackhawks at 930. I believe that is when that starts to make sure you're at 930. So, yeah, I mean, this is, you know, I'm fired up. You know, we got basically, I think, tomorrow, I think one more.

Okay, it's basically five weeks from Nalians that the season is starting. It's going to fly by so quick, you know, especially with the NFL season starting on Thursday, September 8th. You know, once that gets going, the rest of the months of the September is going to fly by. Training camp is going to be here a couple weeks. And, you know, I'm just, I'm so excited for it. But that wraps up this episode of Locked on Penguins podcast. Let me know what you all thought down the YouTube comments.

You can also send me DMs and all that stuff. You know, should the Penguins have brought in someone on a PTO? What do you think of the Evan Rodriguez's new rumor? from Elliot Freeman. And also, what do you think of Dave Modernary's report about Jason Zucker? Would you have made that trade to an unspecified metro team, or would you have kept him and hope that he rebounds for this upcoming season? So again, that wraps this one up. I will talk with you all

either on Thursday. Well, I'll talk with you all on Friday for sure. This episode is going to be posted either Wednesday night or on Thursday. The last episode of the week will be posted on Friday. So hope you have a great rest of your next couple of days, and I'll talk to you all on. on Friday.